The
Messiah Among Us

Nikolaus BeutlApril 24, 2009

My dear brothers and sisters,

How do we feel when we hear that we get a chance to meet with the
True Parents directly? Or how do we react if we find out that a
member of the True Family will not only come to your town but will
also visit your family? Does such news -- the prospect of this
becoming a reality -- stir up some feelings in us?

Let us be one more step concrete: How do we feel as we prepare to
host a member of the True Family for an evening dinner in our home?
Will we be even more excited if it is not only one person but a
couple like Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim who want to spend an
evening with us? Will we sense extra energy rising up from deep
within, some special excitement to be able to spend a few precious
hours together in a heavenly atmosphere?

I suppose this is the case for most of us. Surely it is for me.
But here I want to ask, why do we feel lifted up if a person whom we
love and appreciate deeply visits us? The answer is clear. Because by
treating another person with profound respect as a son or daughter of
God we do what our Heavenly Father created us for -- to live together
with others in holy relationships which allow His presence among us
as His children.

Our time on this earth is limited, our days are counted, the years
fly by, and sooner or later our time on this earth will be up. How
will we feel in that last hour? Will we have some regret because we
could have done better or will we look back in gratitude that we
could spend our days wisely dedicated to the practice of true love,
in every situation while relating to the people we met? Hopefully
none of us will feel deep regret in that hour being sorry for not
having lived a more fruitful life. It is already now that we decide
how we will feel in the future. Are we determined not to allow any
shallowness to creep into our lives but to keep going steadily
pursuing the highest ideals of living in the presence of God while
respecting others as His temples where His spirit dwells?

We live now in the 9th year of Cheon Il Guk in which we are called
to proclaim the authority of True Love and True Life. What is the
highest authority in our lives? When we have a closer look at our
daily activities, can we confidently say that it is God’s Heart
and His True Love guiding our decisions and leading us through
challenging situations victoriously?

I suppose each one of us wants this to be a reality but when we
check with what kind of heart and attitude we approach other people
can we still be certain that we do it with such an inner conviction
that they all are created to live in love and therefore need to
experience True Love - to which we ourselves want to contribute?

The core question is: How do we feel about one another? It is easy
to feel good when meeting a wonderful man or woman of God who has a
pure heart and mind but the problem starts when we meet with
miserable people who are full of struggles… With what kind of
attitude do we cope with such challenging situations of having to
deal with them?

Our True Parents taught us that to treat everybody as a holy
person. How close does our behavior come to this ideal standard? Do
we manage to live up to this high goal or are we (far) distant from
it? The answer to this question will of course differ from person to
person but I wanted to mention this point because I see it as a very
central issue which each one of us needs to look into: How do I treat
my neighbor?

There is a moving story that may well have happened in the past.
You can read this valuable content what I recommend very much through
connecting with the link:
www.begin.ie/index.php?option=com_contentandtask=viewandid=159andItemid=3

Personally I have been indeed touched when I read it because it
deals with an issue that is close to my heart and gives the right
answer to the basic question of how to improve the relationships
among people of faith and in this way to bring down Heaven’s
blessings. The essence of the story is that because the brothers
living together in a monastery came to think that one of them is the
messiah they started to treat each other with much respect as they
did not know who among their brethren would be in such a precious
position. And from such an attitude the whole community benefited
greatly.

In December 2003 representatives from many countries came to
Israel to celebrate the coronation of Jesus Christ. At that time Rev.
Chang Shik Yang spoke to a few hundred members of the Unification
Movement. In his talk he emphasized that we need to find the messiah
in our brothers and sisters. I was very pleased to hear him speak
about this point which is especially relevant in the Holy Land where
our efforts for reconciliation are done under the theme “Heart
to Heart for Peace in the Middle East” because only bonds of
heart can resolve the difficult issues that have led not long ago to
another tragic war in that part of the world.

Our True Parents have taught us that we should not look only for
the messiah to save us from the position of parents but also receive
our spouse as the second and our children as the third messiah
through whom our hearts can be liberated to enter deeper realms of
heartfelt experiences. From this viewpoint it is important that we
also find in our brothers and sisters the ones who can be for us in
the position of a messiah in the realm of brotherly or sisterly love
to resolve issues of which we could not yet take care well enough in
this area.

With such an understanding that we have precious loved ones and
friends who can be for us in a position of a messiah who supports and
protects us it will be much more easy to fulfill our own mission as
tribal or national messiah. I am certain that it is one of the keys
to success in our life to make sure that the various levels of
“messiahship” are well manifested in our lives through a
close relationship to the True Parents of Mankind and their family,
to our spouse and children just as well as to brothers and sisters
who can represent the position of a messiah on that level.

When we live with such a consciousness we will be much more secure
emotionally and more stable spiritually because we can be certain
that we do have the support of a true personal messiah on the
vertical level through our True Father and our True Mother and our
own precious physical and spiritual children, on the horizontal level
through our husband or wife and our brothers and sisters.

For this to become a reality there has to be first of all an
investment of heart. We need to build close heart to heart
relationships in which we can truly be a messiah for one another. The
ones who are familiar with the book “The Victory of Love”
know that our beloved Elder Brother Heung Jin Nim invested very much
here on earth and since his passing at an early age into the spirit
world from there in order to support the building of close heartistic
relationships to our True Parents and among us as their children.

On the Day of Victory of Love at the beginning of this year Hoon
Sook Nim said in her Commemorative Address during which she cried
tears of gratitude: “We must become victors after inheriting
True Parents’ true love. Heung Jin Nim overcame Satan’s
death trial against True Parents and showed the mindset of
sacrificing oneself to preserve one’s integrity. I offer my
gratitude to Heung Jin Nim, Commander-in-Chief in Heaven, who,
through his true sacrifice, made it possible for True Parents to
conclude True Parents’ Cheon Il Guk victory.”

Especially the early members of the Unification Movement made
incredible sacrifices in order to pioneer the establishment of the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Of course there have also been mistakes
made but sadly they have caused many to be disappointed and
discouraged, giving up on the precious high ideals. Therefore it is
indeed important that we have a second look at ourselves to see
clearly to what extent we are affected by the mistakes of other
people. How does our perception of them change when we hear about
this or that person having made this or that wrong?

A beautiful atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust may be
lost again through bad rumors which are spread. Satanic forces are
working hard to divide people while each member of the Unification
Movement is called to be an expert in overcoming distrust and
building bridges from heart to heart. Ever so readily we may judge
people from external viewpoints without knowing the inner content of
their actions and in this way lose valuable relationships. On the
other hand, if we go beyond our inner limitations that hinder us to
treat each other as true brothers and sisters and develop a deep
respect for one another as God’s sons and daughters then we
will naturally have an openness which will enable us to establish
bonds of heart as members of a loving worldwide family.

The real strength of any religious community lies in the depths of
the relationships among its members. In this respect the Unification
Church started on a very precious basis in the early days of our
Movement but much of it has been lost along the way due to fallen
nature which gives easily more importance to one mistake of a person
than to 100 good deeds done by that individual. This sad reality
needs to be changed urgently if we are to succeed in building a world
of true love where there is place for every child of God in our own
hearts.

May we all be victorious in our own minds and souls to go beyond
the temptation of using the poison of judging others as it harms
ultimately ourselves the most! In the religious world there is
definitely too much self-righteousness and hypocritical attitudes
around which must be eradicated first of all in ourselves so that we
will get there where we should be: Looking at each other with the
eyes of God and treating our brothers and sisters accordingly.

Our beloved elder Brother Heung Jin Nim expressed so many times
His desire for our Heavenly Father to be present in ourselves when he
said: “May God see through your eyes. May God speak through
your mouths. May God hear through your ears…” while our
True Parents encouraged us again and again to live in the presence of
God, fully aligned with His Heart. The more we invest into this most
precious realm the more we will be able to find God in the hearts of
His children and naturally our relationships among us will improve
greatly. For this very purpose I have been reaching out to you
through my letters of reflecting on various topics which are relevant
for all of us.

I firmly believe that we need to support each other wholeheartedly
as true brothers and sisters based on deep respect for one another in
order to reach individually the goals and ideals for which we long
deep inside. We understand that God cannot be happy without us but
this is just as well true for our situation. We can only find true
fulfillment if we establish bonds of heart where true love can flow
to the ones who stand in a position of a messiah towards us: The True
Parents, my spouse, my physical / spiritual children -- the ones to
whom we establish a true parent child relationship knowing that a
child is such a precious teacher in the realm of hear, and last but
not least my brother and sister who stands in the position of a
messiah for us if we allow it to be by opening our hearts to connect
as true brothers and sisters who take full responsibility for one
another.

It is my fervent hope and desire that we will all succeed in this
realm of building heart to heart relationships by making ourselves
the first step of trusting others, investing ourselves for them with
all of our heart and mind and soul while keeping an attitude of being
dedicated to the happiness of my “neighbor” as precious
son or daughter of God rather than being concerned about our own
well-being and the benefits for ourselves in the relationships we
build and cultivate in daily life.